The Invisible get Brighton buzzing with Electric Miles: Miles Davis Through The 1970s

Take the current craze for mindfulness, add one pioneering jazz album, get a 400-strong audience to listen to it in silence, then bring them back to hear a key period of the artist's music brought to life by some of the most groundbreaking contemporary musicians around .... and you get an idea of one of the most anticipated jazz performances at Brighton Festival this year.

Festival Director and illustrator David Shrigley, responsible for bringing to Brighton the Played Twice: Kind Of Blue concept developed by Dalston venue Brilliant Corners, with this performance not only culturally juxtaposed two consecutive centuries in one afternoon, but also presented a giant prism through which rainbow rays of musical light by contemporary band The Invisible, introduced potentially new fans to the whole era of the electric recordings of Miles Davis.

Brought up on jazz, the Invisible introduced a modern spin on Davis' affectionate tribute "Billy Preston". The fresh and fiery dual drumming of Leo Taylor, alongside Steve Argüelles from the original John Taylor Trio, augmented by the intelligent accents of Tom Herbert's bass, drew whoops and cheers from the audience highlighting the improvisational free spirit in the air. Robert Stillman's delicate but assured soloing on tenor sax and bass clarinet, provided the true soul of the ensemble, with Byron Wallen's pulsating trumpet embodying its heart. Nick Ramm's cool Fender Rhodes tones characterised 'The Ghetto Walk', and, melding with Wallen's hot clarion call, brought one of the better-known Davis compositions of this era, 'Tutu', to dramatic climax, further imbuing 'Little Church', composed by Hermeto Pascoal, with occasionally supernatural atmospherics.

"Miles had so many influences," says bassist Tom Herbert, "... acts like Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Cream ... that's what he was listening to!" Sure enough, the second set unfurled the deep funk, psychedelic and heavy rock elements intrinsic in guitarist and bandleader David Okomu's playing, morphing seamlessly into the jazzier musical direction Hendrix might perhaps have taken had he stayed around, as implied in his later albums.

Smiling and waving to an audience which refused to let them go, The Invisible encored with 'So What', 'Black Satin' and 'In a Silent Way', an inspired medley which, while infused with the players' own distinct flavour, also personified timelessness in its truest sense, just as Miles Davis would have wished.

– Jasmin Sharif

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